George Osborne was facing fresh questions yesterday over his controversial push to make Britain a worldwide hub for fossil fuels, after it emerged that his father-in-law is the head of a lobbying organisation for big oil and gas companies.

Lord Howell of Guildford, who is an energy minister at the
Foreign Office, is also the president of the British Institute of
Energy Economics (BIEE), which is sponsored by Shell and BP –
prompting suggestions of a conflict of interest.

Green campaigners demanded to know whether Lord Howell, a former
energy secretary under Margaret Thatcher and who was a political
influence on the young Mr Osborne, had pressed his son-in-law to
promote oil and gas from inside the Treasury while weakening the
renewable energy sector.

Last week, the Chancellor and the Energy Secretary, Ed Davey,
reached a compromise deal over the coalition's energy policy after
a cabinet showdown, with Mr Davey fending off an attempt by Mr
Osborne to slash wind energy subsidies by 25 per cent, instead
agreeing to 10 per cent cuts. However, the deal alarmed
environmental campaigners as it contained a £500m tax break for
offshore drilling for North Sea gas as part of Mr Osborne's mission
to make the UK a "gas hub". There was also no commitment for all
electricity generation to be green by 2030, a demand of the
Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc).

While Lord Howell, whose daughter Frances married Mr Osborne in
1998, has declared his role at the BIEE on the Register of Lords'
Interests, there was criticism that this clashes with his
ministerial brief. The Conservative peer is a Foreign Office
minister with responsibility for international energy policy, which
involves him travelling around the world setting out British energy
policy to foreign governments. Whitehall insiders alleged that Lord
Howell, who has been sceptical about climate change and is an
enthusiastic supporter of shale gas as well as traditional power
generation, has told ministerial counterparts that the British
Government is not serious about renewable energy.

Mr Osborne has not hidden his scepticism for green policies,
declaring in his Autumn Statement last year: "We are not going to
save the planet by shutting down our steel mills." He has also
pushed for the Government to keep a third runway at Heathrow on the
table. Yet the revelation about his father-in-law's interests will
only heighten concerns about the Chancellor's "dash for gas".

Louise Hutchins, senior energy campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said
yesterday: "We'd hate to think that the UK's direction of travel on
energy policy was being decided over claret and duck chez Osborne.
But Lord Howell's links with big oil and gas special interests are
well established. Questions must surely be asked about whether he
has been bending the ear of his son-in-law to help his friends in
the fossil fuel lobby."

Lord Howell and his son-in-law share their enthusiasm for shale
gas extraction, through the controversial method of fracking. Two
years ago, the 76-year-old minister told the House of Lords: "There
is the fascinating development of shale gas, which has changed the
energy landscape in the US. If it is replicated elsewhere, it could
be fundamental in altering the energy vista in every
continent."

Mr Davey has become increasingly frustrated by the belief held
by some in the Conservative Party that global expansion in shale
gas will lead to lower bills in Britain. A senior Lib Dem source
said: "There is a Tory obsession that somehow there is going to be
this revolution in gas and the price is going to plummet. We
shouldn't be banking on it being a big game-changer."

As the Treasury and Decc fought it out over energy policy last
week, Tim Yeo, the chairman of the Commons Energy and Climate
Change Committee, accused Mr Osborne of undermining green energy
policy, ahead of the Government's Energy Bill this autumn, to
please backbench Tory MPs.

It also emerged that Mr Osborne has not met a single renewable
energy representative since becoming Chancellor, but has held eight
meetings with oil and gas companies.

In an interview in 2006, Mr Osborne praised his father-in-law,
who was a key member of Mrs Thatcher's cabinet. He said: "I grew up
during the 1980s and the achievements of the governments of the
1980s are phenomenal. Whether it was the battle against trade
unions, reform of the economy or defeating the Soviet Union.''

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "There is no reason for
the minister in the Foreign Office responsible for international
energy policy not to continue to hold the honorary position as
president of the British Institute of Energy Economics, which is
sponsored by Decc. The UK Government is clear that it supports the
UK energy industry."